Juliens Journey

A detailed Summary of Juliens Journey

Warning: There are a few spelling errors.

'It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.'

'What is essential is invisible to the eye,' the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.

-- Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince

The ending of Stendhal's, The Red the Black, is obscure. Julien Sorel is sentenced to death by guillotine for the crime of attempting to murder Mme. de Rênal, his former mistress. During his trial, Julien has the sympathy of the town and powerful figures of influence behind him; he could quite easily change the verdict of trial by simply claiming his act was a crime of passion. Yet Julien stubbornly insists, from the moment of the offense until the day of his death, that his crime was utterly premeditated and he deserves nothing short of death.

The details of the crime are nebulous. Throughout his life, Julien devoted all his energy to perfecting his outward behavior in order to transcend humble, peasant, beginnings and achieve fame, wealth, and social status. On the very brink of achieving his goal (he had acquired estates, a title, the rank of lieutenant of the Hussars,) a letter from Mme. de Rê

Julien finds himself being a hypocrite for no reason, for no audience. Julien's habits are so fully entrenched that even enlightenment and removal of temptation cannot remove them. If Julien knows himself, he knows that once out of the shadow of death it will be even harder to correct his habits. It may even be impossible. If Julien truly feels that his hypocrisy is wrong and has led him astray, he would find death the only correct choice.

The development of Julien's sentiment is mostly the same as before. Immediately after the crime, he feels nothing of remorse, but only that a crime deserves a fitting punishment. However, once he learns that Mme. de Renal was not mortally wounded, Julien's perspective changes: "Only then did Julien begin to repent the crime he had committed. By a coincidence which saved him from despair, that moment had also brought an end at last to the state of physical tension and near madness in which he had been engulfed since leaving Paris for Verrieres." (473) He gives way to tears and is filled with nobility. This interpretation hinges on Julien feeling sincere remorse, and that he begins to sincerely learn who he is, what he has done with his life, and what he really wants from life at large.

Readers see Julien embrace hypocrisy unabashedly, but he seems to delve into it with such sincerity that it is difficult to pass judgement. Julien is born into a dull and petty society, it is not surprising, nor ignoble even, that he wished to transcend it. The problem occurs because Julien decides that the best way to do that is to attain the most admired position of status. Julien is deceived by society and even by himself. This desire is unnatural to him; his goal does not coincide with his heart. Julien has a fine imagination, but his soul is not suited to aspirations of greatness. When offered a good job by his friend, Fouque, his is faced with this problem,

1.)I am being hypocritical as though there were someone there to listen to me. 2.)I am forgetting to live and love, when there are so few days left for me to live... Alas! Mme. De Renal isn't here. . .This is what is causing my isolation, not the absence of a righteous good, all-powerful God. . .Ah! If he existed. . .'I have deserved death,' I'd say to him; 'but Almighty God, bountiful God, merciful God, give me back the woman I love! (522)

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 3047
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English